Charles bltjst



(No Model.)

. 0; BL U'S T. Clasp for Books, &o.

No. 240,648. Patented April 26,188l.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BLUST, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM .SC JEHMPER,

- OF SAME PLACE.

' CLASP FOR SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 240,648, dated April 26, 1881.

Application filed March 12, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES BLUsT, of the city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clasps for Books, Albums,

l Portfolios, Letter-Files, and other articles, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention is particularly applicable for albums, letter-files, or portfolios, which increase in thickness as they become filled with pictures or papers, and in which an ordinary clasp which would properly secure the covers" when the album, letter-file, or portfolio is empty, or only partly full, would be too short I 5 when the album, letter-file, or portfolio becomes full.

The invention consists, essentially, in the combination, in a clasp, of a frame comprising two parallel sockets and a transverse socket,

a yoke the two arms of which are adapted to slide within said sockets, and are notched or provided with teeth, and bolts movable in said transverse socket and engaging with the notches or teeth in said arms, to prevent the 2 5 withdrawal of the arms of the yoke from said sockets. The two bolts which slide in the transverse socket have a spring arranged between them for impelling them inopposite directions to engage with the notches or teeth of the arms of the yoke, which are preferably ratchet-teeth, so that when the arms are thrust into their sockets they will automatically engage with the bolts.

Where the clasp is used for an album, book,

3 5 or portfolio, the frame may be rigidly attached or hinged to one cover, and the yoke maybe rigidly attached to the other cover, or made to engage with a catch thereon, all as more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of an album having a clasp of my improved construction, and Fig. 2 represents a plan of the clasp detached from the covers of the album.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts inboth figures.

A A designate the two covers of the album, and B B designate the two clasp-plates, which are rigidly attached to thetwo covers. 50 l The skeleton-frame, which constitutes one of (N0 model.)

I the main parts of the clasp, is composed of two tubes, a, parallel with each other, and hinged to a hinge-pin or pintle, b, secured to the claspplate B. The two tubes at are connected by a transverse tube, a, and the three tubes form sockets, as hereinafter described.

0 designates a yoke, which forms the other main part of the clasp, and the two arms at of which are parallel and adapted to slide freely in the two sockets a.

If desired, the yoke 0 might be prevented from being entirely disengaged from the sockets a by means of pins in the arms 01 entering slots in the sockets a, or pins in the sockets or entering grooves in the arms d.

In the inner side of each arm 01 are one or more teeth or notches; and e designate bolts which are fitted to slide in the socket c, and are impelled in opposite directions and into engagement with the teeth or notches in the arms 01 by a spring, f, placed between said bolts. The teeth or notches in the arms d might consist simply of holes, into which the ends of the bolts 6 would enter, or they might be square notches, but preferably they are ratchet-teeth, and the ends of the bolts 0 are correspondingly inclined, so that when the yoke O is pushed inward the bolts will be pushed back by the ratchet-teeth and will afterward spring into engagement therewith. The two bolts 0 have projecting knobs or pins 6, which work in slots 0 in the socket c, and may be grasped by the fingers for drawing the bolts back out of engagement with the teeth in the arms (1.

The yoke O, as here shown, is adapted to engage with a knob or catch, g, upon the clasp-plate B, for holding the album closed. The bolts and the toothed arms of the yoke form a convenient means for lengthening or shortening the length of the clasp, so as to properly hold the covers closed, however full the album may be.

In some cases the frame and yoke G might be rigidly attached to the two clasp-plates B B, and the arms 66 would then be released and withdrawn entirely from the sockets to to open the album. I

What 1 claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is.

1. The combination, in a clasp, of a frame comprising two parallel sockets and a transverse socket, a yoke having parallel arms adapted to slide in said parallel sockets, and notched or toothed, and two bolts movable in said transverse socket and engaging with the notches or teeth in said arms, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in a clasp, of a skeleton-frame composed of two parallel tubular sockets, and a transverse tubular socket connecting them, a yoke, the arms of which slide in said parallel sockets, and are toothed or notched, and two bolts movable in said transverse socket and engagingvwith the teeth or notches in the arms of the said yoke, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the tubular sockets a and c, the yoke 0, having toothed or notched arms d, the bolts 0 in the socketc, and the spring f between said bolts, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with two clasp-plates, of a frame hinged to one plate and comprising parallel tubular sockets, a yoke engaging with a catch upon the other plate, and having arms sliding in said sockets, and toothed or notched, and bolts movable in said frame transversely to the arms of the yoke and engaging with the teeth or notches therein, substantially as specified.

CHARLES BLUST. Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, ED. GLATZMAYER. 

